


There's Been Some Confusion, For You See, My Roommate Is...

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Boarding School, Dormitories, F/F, Human AU (Steven Universe), Love/Hate, Motivated Forgetting, Peridot is a Nerd, a slow burn, i am so sorry whoops, i'm changing up chapters so that they fit this story a little better, it sucks but it will probably get better, lapis is lapissed, mainly focuses on lapidot pairing, my chapters are short and my writing sucks, the first few chapters describe how the conflict between them starts, there are going to be a LOT of changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7109968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peridot is sent off to boarding school in somewhat high hopes. But, what problems will arise with a... frustrating roommate? In particular, with somebody she forgot about?</p><p>Side note: uploads aren't as frequent as I'd like them to be, and I'm majorly changing the plot. It doesn't currently fit together as well as I want it to. Sorry for letting anybody down. Thank you! This is my first fic, sorry for any grammatical errors and the like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Solitude

**Author's Note:**

> so, hello everyone! this is my first work here, and i hope you guys enjoy it! i'm still working out details, so some things might be changed in the future. also, sorry it's such a short chapter! just getting the setting established!  
> (and yes, the title is a wicked reference.)
> 
> edit: i added onto it.

Peridot was, in no uncertain terms, oddly optimistic. Things were finally looking up for a change - she had made rather exemplary grades in her previous schools, and so was sent to Beach City Academy, a boarding school in Delmarva along the east coast, in order to be in an environment better suited for her to focus on schoolwork.

 

The girl was meticulous when it came to work, and therefore was never too keen on making friends. And, because she stood at a height of 4'11", she was commonly mocked. To make up for her height, she tried to be intimidating as hell. She also had developed this sarcastic, know-it-all attitude, which usually pissed people off. She could be a bitch.

  
And, quite frankly, she didn't give a flying fuck about other people's opinions. Well, at the very least, that's what she had convinced herself. 

  
She was also what many would call a nerd, as she was obsessed with tinkering with electronics. She had bright green eyes, unruly blonde hair that stuck up in all directions, and green tinted glasses with a thin wire frame. When the time came to move, she was more than eager to get away from her past antagonists at public schools. Although she would miss her parents, She was ready to turn a new leaf, and hopefully, things would end well. It brought her a little comfort that her childhood friend, Jasper Chalcedony, was attending the academy with her. After all, she had few she could confide in. Unfortunately, Jasper had driven herself, and so she was left in a somewhat awkward social situation as she stepped onto the bus heading coastward.

 

Beach City was a beautiful place. The nerd knew everything about programming and coding, but nothing about the coast. So, as she stepped off the bus, luggage in tow, she was rather awestruck by what she saw. Beach City Academy was beautifully constructed; it was a rather small campus compared to some schools she had seen, but it was charming nonetheless. The seaside was not too far away from campus - perhaps a ten minute drive away - and the town's stores were a quick walk away.

 

Before she knew it, she had been introduced to the campus by a man named Mr. Dewey, who revealed himself as the school's principal, and directed to the dorm rooms. He gave her the dorm's room number - room 12, first floor - as well as a copy of the class schedule and her own pair of room keys.

  
The only thing that irked her? She had no clue who the hell her roommate was, or if she even had one.

  
Why would she make such a big deal over something as trivial as a roommate?

  
Due to her past, she was a little hesitant to speak to anyone. She had insecurities, social anxiety, the whole nine yards. Before she had come to the campus, she was able to fill out a sheet, asking about personal preferences regarding rooms (i.e. would you be alright with a roommate?), and was hoping she would be free from other people.

  
After a benevolent student named Rose Quartz had helped station her things outside her dorm room (which she profusely apologized and thanked her for), she opened the door... And came face to face with a person she wasn't too eager to see. A roommate.  
Her roommate.

For a second, she was dumbfounded, simply gaping at the stranger. The girl was tall and lanky, with tan skin and dyed dark blue hair. She was probably about an entire foot taller than Peridot (no surprise there) and wore a white and blue crop top and jeans. The most striking thing about her, however, were her eyes. They were an icy cobalt blue, and they were glaring daggers directly at her. She was both regal and menacing all at once. There was something so, so familiar about her, too....  
"What are you staring at?"  
It was at that moment that Peridot was reminded that she was incredibly, irrefutably gay.  
For once, Peridot didn't have some sort of immediate snide remark. Shocker.  
Instead, she was... scared. Intimidated. Words seemed to catch in her throat, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. It would have been too awkward if she had directly addressed the issue, so she instead bartered for moving her things into the room.  
Maybe then she could finally speak.  
"You never answered my question," her roommate finally said after about a minute of uncomfortable, heavy silence. "Well, I'm Lapis. Lapis Lazuli."  
Peridot mentally slapped herself, before mustering up the courage to speak.  
"Peridot Diamond," she finally said. "Nice to meet you, Lazuli."  
She couldn't have sounded more unenthusiastic.  
Lapis Lazuli gave her a cold, blank stare, before exhaling a sigh and turning around. "We have another hour before dinner," Peridot finally said, hoping to break the ice.  
"No shit, Sherlock."  
Did she just?..  
Mouth gaping, she looked at her roommate very slowly, eyes slightly narrowed. Something about this girl unsettled her. She just couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.


	2. Outburst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lapis is edgy and peridot just wants them to get along. of course, things don't exactly go as planned.

Soon, the dormitory room was in order. Shrugging off the heavy atmosphere, the blonde stood and admired her work. Peridot had arranged some belongings neatly on a shelf at the foot of her bed and attached a padlock to a box filled with a tape-recorder, credit-card, and more. (Hopefully, the padlock would dissuade any kleptomaniacs.)

She had also hung up a Camp Pining Hearts poster - character charts and annotations included - and shoved her boxes of her clothing/miscellaneous objects underneath her bed. All the while, she had been muttering to herself, going back and forth in case anything wasn't perfectly arranged.

The room itself was nice, relatively speaking.

There was a wide window opposite of the dorm room's door with a soft blue curtain strung up to it, which she assumed belonged to Lazuli. The window provided a view of the town. In the distance, the bay was visible too; she spent a while marveling at the soft sky, an array of bright colors, the sun sinking below the coastline. Seagulls nested along clusters of rocks near the shore, which she assumed were put there to stop erosion. The tide had swept away sand in other areas farther down the beach, and the ocean slowly was creeping up along the beach. The landscape was bathed in golden light.

It was so different, so bizarre compared to the metropolitan city she had been used to.

All the while, Lapis Lazuli had said nothing, and it was starting to really get under Peridot's skin. The roommate was on her bed, turned away from the blonde, listening to music. The stifling silence of the room was starting to drive Peridot insane.

If they were going to be roommates, they would have to talk, wouldn't they? Isn't that what proper roommates did? Did she think she was too above Peridot to speak to her?

There was no reason for a complete stranger to treat her like garbage, was there? She hadn't even done anything to aggravate her!

Even if the two girls seemed nothing alike, perhaps they could come to some sort of compromise. It would be a miserable year of dormitory life if her roommate kept up this uncooperative, somber act up. They may as well make the best of the situation... right? Swallowing up her anger and her pride, she decided to poke Lazuli's shoulder, hoping to come to some sort of compromise. She opened her mouth to speak.

Lazuli, surprisingly, took off her headphones, giving her a skeptical glance.

"Given the hypothetical situation of us being acquaintances, how would you go about speaking to me?"

Silence.

Peridot's eye twitched, her face twisted up in a tight smile. Then, an idea. She scampered toward her things. This was followed up by the sound of something being opened. The girl came back, a tape-recorder in hand.  
"So, given a hypothetical situation..."  
And it began.

. . .

"And then I'll say, 'Hey, as one student to another, it isn't so bad that we won't be going home soon, am I right? Why don't we watch the sun come up, and figure out what we're going to do with all this time, eh, Lazuli?' And then she'll say, 'Yes, Peridot, as impressed as I am by your first impression on me, I am even more impressed by your capacity for friendship! I am so glad we'll be living together!' Peridot, room 12."

  
She concluded her pacing and exaggerated hand movements with the click of the end button before she turned to the azure haired girl. A small smile graced her face. "Let's begin." She gave the tall girl a hopeful look, eyes bright.

  
"This isn't going to work."

  
"Wait,.. what?"

  
The tension in the room rose again, and a very flabbergasted Peridot stood there, gaping at her incredulously. She was paling slightly with anger. Lapis pulled that blank expression on her face again, though it was apparent that the blonde was starting to pry at her nerves. "I really thought I'd be living alone here," she offered feebly, averting her eyes. The taller girl had a faltering half smile on her face, as if she were putting on a mask of friendliness.

Peridot's face twisted up. Against all reason, all normal thought, she decided to do the first thing that came to mind.

And that was to lash out.

"Well, you clod," she spat vindictively, meeting Lapis's icy stare, "you're rather problematic yourself. After all, you're not exactly the most altruistic person. At the very least, I'm trying to get along with you. I haven't met you before and you're treating me like trash. You?" The two engaged in a silent glaring contest, clearly not pleased with one another.

Something about Lapis's eyes sent shivers down her spine. Once again, she had no clue why.

Peridot inhaled a sharp breath, her fisted hands by her sides. It was clear now that Lapis was about as childish as she was. So this was how it was going to go, eh? Peridot had a bedraggled appearance, her hair an array of cowlicks and her glasses slightly lopsided on her face. Gathering every last piece of her pride left, she straightened her back. With a smirk, she pulled down the skin underneath her eye, sticking out her tongue with a 'nyeh' before turning on her heel and storming out the door. Peridot's nerves were bundled up into a knot. This agitating roommate was really stirring her up.

Meanwhile, said roommate was still in the dormitory room. And, of all things, she was laughing. It was more of a quiet snicker, really. Lapis Lazuli found Peridot's little outburst amusing. While she found the nerd to be really, really obnoxious, she in question could be... cute, at times.

What she found most amusing of all was the fact that Peridot didn't remember her.

The little stuck-up brat had forgotten the whole reason as to why Lapis had a grudge against her in the first place. She knew that people could forget certain memories, especially if they didn't particularly want to remember them, and it appeared as if this was the case.

In the meantime, she was really just left to let the fact that she was rooming with that really irksome person sink in. She was well adjusted to solitude, and the idea of having someone be there half the time really... bothered her.

Especially the fact that this somebody had to be her.

This sudden, new feeling had crept on her, and it was crashing over her. What was it? Lapis couldn't quite say.

  
It was somewhere along the lines of loathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone has any suggestions on where this story should go or what they'd like to see, feel free to comment!


	3. Enmity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peridot tries to cool down, before thinking of ways to make it up to lazuli.

Storming through the hallway, frustrated and mad, Peridot looked frantically for some place to calm down. Chatter seemed to float down the hall, booming laughter resonating from several dorm rooms. A feeling of sheer and utter panic was in her chest. Wasn't it just about time for-?

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud  _chime_ which echoed through the halls. The bell juxtaposed with laughter, anxiety, and pent up rage did absolutely nothing to ease the tension in her veins. Letting out an exasperated, frustrated groan, the blonde made a beeline for the door, hoping to avoid the tidal wave of students surging toward the cafeteria. Though she had no clue as to where the lunchroom actually was, she settled on following the crowd of students that spilled from the dormitory. Now that she thought about it, weren't there fewer people now then there had been earlier?

Oh. That was right. As Peridot had been told by the principal upon arriving, quite a few of the local students were day students, and therefore were only present at the school during the daytime. Universally, the majority of the day students decided on staying with their family on evenings. It was sort of a sad thing that Peridot wasn't originally from Beach City. Perhaps she would've been able to visit her family in the evenings, talk to her parents... Any positivity brought up at the idea faltered almost as soon as it had been thought up. Likely, they would've ignored her, as they had done for all those lonely, long years of her childhood.

So much for that idea.

Shaking those thoughts away from her head, she decided to focus on the students around her. Although she was predisposed to act bitterly toward other people, she found herself intrigued by the apparent friendships she could see forming around her. 'How foolish,' she noted with pessimism. At the same time, a feeling of longing scratched at her heart. Though she would never willingly admit it, she had always envied the friendships of people. Jasper was probably the closest thing to a friend she had ever had. Sadly, Jasper had never been much of a friend at all.

Jasper. It wasn't hard to spot her friend in the group of students present. She was ever-so rowdy and was a generally gregarious person. It was almost laughable how much of polar opposites the two were. The vitiligo-striped girl was speaking to another person, an older girl with curly black hair styled in an afro and rich brown skin. From what Peridot could tell, she seemed very laid-back, and the two seemed to be getting along, for the most part.

There was also was someone near Peridot's height, with light pastel dyed purple hair, speaking to an incredibly pale, wiry person, who's nose looked like a bird's beak. The two seemed to be in some meaningless, ongoing debate, while a friend of the two, a tall, shapely girl with rose-pink hair twisting into curls, stood by and laughed.

There were a bunch of other people Peridot didn't recognize, such as the two short girls who were looking at each other endearingly, giggling flirtatiously at one another.

With a scoff of irritation, she rolled her eyes and looked away.

Relationships. How disgusting.

Before she could add onto her analyzations of the other students, they had reached the lunch room, and Peridot was too hungry to care about trying to make conversation with anyone.

After she had ambled around and found herself something to eat, she sat herself down at an unoccupied table. The boisterous laughter and constant buzz of chatter dulled to background noise. Her thoughts had wandered back to that small argument between her and her roommate. She wasn't really up for speaking to anyone, which was clear by her stormy, pensive expression.

Because she had been in an angered rush to escape her dorm room, she had hastily left all her books behind, and so had nothing to keep her occupied. She had decided to vacantly stare out of the cafeteria's windows. Luckily for her, she was left in solitude for the entirety of the meal, although she could've sworn she felt eyes on her - and soon she had finished up her meal and put up her lunch tray.

Thankfully, the food was rather enjoyable - save for the lack of some of her favorite types of snack foods. For a split second, she thought about her stockpile of Doritos back at home. With a small groan, she realized they'd all be stale by the time any sort of vacation came about.

At least she had brought a stockpile with her, right?

She had left a solid fifteen minutes early so she could take a shower, avoid everyone else, and get to her laptop. Soon, she had gathered her toiletries, her towel, and nightclothes, stepped into the community bathroom, stripped off clothes in a stall, and made way to the showers clad in a towel.

The bathroom, itself, was nice.

Peridot made a note to herself to thank the staff sometime. The floors were clean, the stalls had locks on them, and the showers had a lockable door with a hook on it, separated from the main shower by a curtain. Because there were only a handful of students who weren't native to Beach City, the dormitory bathrooms were well-kept, and, for the most part, unused. She slipped into the shower, hung her dirty and clean clothes on the hook (she had a laundry bag in her dorm room, and a little dust wouldn't hurt her pajamas), and put her toiletry bag on the floor, turned on the warm water, scrubbing at her skin.

Her thoughts wandered back to Lapis Lazuli. On one hand, she wanted to be seething mad at that blue-haired girl, who had this piss poor attitude toward her and wouldn't listen to a thing Peridot had to say. On the other hand, maybe she had come from a different background, and moving was difficult for her. Empathy wasn't something she thought of often, but she was beginning to think. She could apologize! That was it! Maybe the two could become acquaintances. Perhaps even friends. She scrubbed at her skin viciously with a washcloth as she debated on what to do.

What Peridot didn't understand, no matter how hard she tried, was why Lapis was so infuriatingly mean towards her. She left this rhetorical question up in the air, returning to the thought of apologizing.

Lapis was stubborn, though. What if she didn't accept her apology? What would she do then? She could maybe find something that her mysterious roommate liked. Although a little stalking would have to be done, everything would be worthwhile if she could make this enemy into a friend.

And, if all else failed, maybe she could annoy her roommate into befriending her.

After she deemed herself clean, she got dressed in a green t-shirt and her notorious alien-print pants before quickly brushing her teeth and darting out of the bathroom into the hallway. She let out a long, relieved sigh. Nobody was nearby. People scared her.

Scratch that. Voices were turning the corner. She let out a little 'eep!' before running toward her dorm room, belongings in her arms. She fumbled with the doorknob in a rush, opening and slamming it within seconds. Her belongings also spilled onto the ground. "Cloddy people," she grumbled, picking up her things.

Wait. She wasn't alone, was she?

With a sheepish look, she very slowly looked up, only to be met with wide, tempestuous blue eyes. She averted her eyes momentarily. "Erm." Lapis looked at her with a baffled expression, but finally looked away. Peridot took the opportunity to fish her computer out from underneath her bed and do a little work. She was working on a few projects, and she even worked on coding and hacking applications for clients of hers, who would pay her money. Since she had never had time for anything else, she had dedicated much of her time to working on computers.

She looked back up at Lapis, who now seemed wholeheartedly unfazed by Peridot's presence. The anger that she had felt once again swelled up in her mind, and she began to type irately. Two could play at that game. She kept her mouth shut in a stubborn silence. Apologies came later. Pride came first.

At one point, Lapis had gone to the bathroom to shower; in that time, Peridot finally began to unwind. She put away her computer (and her tape recorder, which had skittered to the foot of her bed in her previous fit) and placed her glasses on a small dresser beside her bed, although left the light on, covering her eyes. She had a long day in front of her tomorrow.

She planned on getting rid of her enmity toward Lapis Lazuli, whatever it took.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just noticed how dreadfully short these chapters are! i'm dearly sorry about that, i'll probably try to cram more plot into chapters.. or i'll continue writing the way i am now, i guess it depends on what happens. thanks for reading this far, anyways! things get a little.. interesting, next chapter. (aka. the lapidot aspect comes into play.)


	4. Fright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first day of school has a pretty nice start. the end of the first day of school is not as great.

The moon cast a beam of luminescent moonlight through the window, illuminating the various objects in the dorm room in silvery light. At one point or another, Peridot had woken up. As hard as she tried to fall asleep, but ended up tossing and turning, to no avail. Sitting up, she surveyed her surroundings. Everything was a bunch of blobs of soft colors. Mumbling irritably to herself, she clambered to find her glasses. She swiped her arm lazily across her bedside table before she found them and brought them to her face, deftly sliding them on. Immediately, her view of the world sharpened. Ah, that was better. What was amusing was that she didn't think of the fact that the light had been on when she had dozed off.

Lapis Lazuli had fallen asleep, shown by the lump in the bed opposite to hers. Oddly enough, the short blonde found herself watching the taller girl sleep. It was relaxing to her, watching the slow rise and fall of the royal blue covers on Lapis's bed. For some inexplicable reason, Peridot found herself pushing off the covers, standing up. As creepy as it sounded, she had crept over to her antagonist's bedside, curious to see what her face looked like as she slept. Her face was peaceful. Relaxed. Peridot favored this expression over the ones of irritation that she had so commonly seen. Her roommates blue hair was swept over her face in an array of wild tangles. The blonde was captivated by her perpetually innocent expression. Her arm stretched out to push the hair out of Lapis's face, but she then recognized what she was doing. Mentally chiding herself, she pulled away quickly, blushing profusely and awkwardly stumbling.

"Oh my stars."

Her voice was a harsh, flustered whisper. Tearing her eyes away from Lapis, she made her way backward, only to trip over a small object. She managed to catch herself, though it was followed by a muted string of colorful curses.

She stood, letting her nerves settle down, before she made her way over to the wide window, finding herself looking at the horizon. Spotting the moon, she glanced up, marveling at the celestial object. Stars speckled the inky cobalt sky, adding to her awe. The blonde sat there like that for a while, gazing at the shadows buildings cast against the ground and the moon, so beautiful in the sky. What she hadn't noticed was a subtle shift underneath the royal blue covers, and a pair of captivating blue eyes watching her moon-bathed silhouette with heightened interest.

At one point or another, Peridot had returned to her side of the room, promptly snuggling under her covers and falling asleep, her glasses still on her face.  
Unbeknownst to her, someone had crept across the room, just as she had before, watching her as she rested. Her glasses were removed from her face tentatively and placed on her bedside table quietly.

* * *

 

The blare of an alarm clock interrupted her sleep. Peridot's eyes seemed to be glued shut, and she turned toward the noise, stretching out as she shifted. She sat up, incoherently mumbling as she rubbed her eyes. The wretched alarm clock. One of her greatest enemies. With an audible groan, she tapped on the snooze button, silencing the obnoxious series of beeps. Light danced in her blurred vision. She looked away, closing her eyes as she tried to orient to everything. Where was she? Her memories of the previous day all came crashing back to her, and she muttered a few bitchy words under her breath, somewhere along the lines of 'clod' and 'morning'. She blindly felt around the bedside table, feeling for her glasses. She found them, but didn't grab them before the floor did. She let out an exasperated squeak before rolling off her bed, grogginess disappearing, as she tried to locate glasses. She managed to fish them out from where they had fallen under her bed, and soon she was up. Lapis Lazuli was now awake, though she didn't seem to be moving. She looked back at her alarm clock.  
It was 6:30.  
She stepped over to the shelf at the end of her bed, picking up a thin stack of papers. Rifling through them, she found what she was looking for.  
The schedule. Each class lasted fifty minutes, with about ten minutes of break time in between. There were four main classes in the morning, and two extracurricular classes in the afternoon. After school, sports started - and when they ended, there was just time to finish homework and wind down for the afternoon. She let out an exasperated sigh. Her first class was English, which she wasn't altogether looking forward to. She peered at Lapis again. The girl had finally began to stir. "Hey, Lazuli, breakfast is at 7:00. If you want to get any food, I recommend you get up."  
Lapis pulled up the covers to spite Peridot.  
"Fine. Suit yourself." Her response was cutting and very condescending, just enough so to make abruptly Lapis sit up. Peridot, turning on her heel, smugly grinned to herself. She had gathered her outfit for the day, a brush, and her toothbrush and tube of toothpaste before leaving the room.  
Before she knew it, Peridot was ready for the day, comfortable in a pair of sweatpants and a green hoodie. Her hair had been about un-brushable, so she settled on combing it down as neatly as possible before heading back to her dormitory room. Lapis Lazuli was now up and about, wearing a pair of jeans and a simple white t-shirt. Her blue hair looked lazily brushed, but not in a bad way. As always, she looked a little ruffled in her own elegant way. Upon Peridot's arrival, she leaned against a wall, looking down at her phone. Peridot averted her eyes and checked the clock again. 6:45.  
"About yesterday," Peridot began, looking over at Lapis, who returned the it with that same critical, withering look. Peridot visibly flinched at the eye contact. "I would like to.. apologize." Scathing silence. "I... For all I know, you might've been through a lot. You probably have a right to be annoyed. But... even if you miss home, or whatever situation you happen to be in, please do remember that I'm going through the same thing. You're alone. Nobody could possibly understand that. But wait... I do!" She paused, hoping to get some sort of reaction from her roommate, earnestly looking at her. Lapis Lazuli looked a little more sullen now, though the hand holding her phone dropped to her side. She had caught her attention. Peridot took that as a sign to continue speaking. "The thing is, even if you're alone, you... don't have to be alone anymore." She paused, gesturing at the taller girl with both hands. "Whatever you want me to do, tell me, and I'll do it."  
There was a little more silence, before there was a response. "I wanted you to leave."  
Ouch. Way to be blunt. Peridot winced, opening her mouth, thinking better of it, and closing it again.  
"But I think that maybe, we can come to a... compromise." she finally managed to say, before looking over at Peridot. The two held a long look.  
"Well, I'm heading to breakfast." Shrugging, Lapis made her way to the door. Peridot followed behind her like a little puppy dog.  
Upon reaching the dining hall, the pair were graced with the smell of food and the sound of people talking. Peridot quickly gathered up a small container of cereal and a piece of toast before she was ready to sit down. The only thing was she had no clue where to sit. There were some people she didn't recognize clustered at a few tables, and then there was Lapis Lazuli. She hesitated for a brief second before making her way over to the perplexing roommate. "Can I sit here?"  
"I don't know. Can you?"  
With a frustrated hiss, she set down her tray, shooting Lapis a small glare. "Peridot, don't go thinking that because I accepted your apology, that automatically makes us friends." Peridot grimaced before turning to face her. "Well, why not?" she countered.  
Lapis dodged the question, changing the subject. "Why are you so intent on becoming my friend?" she growled, looking at Peridot with an exasperated expression.  
The truth was, Lapis Lazuli had trust issues. Her past had shaped her in a quite few ways. She was a difficult person to discern: complex and shrouded in mystery. She had never been free to be her own person in the past, always being manipulated into situations by other people. And that list, coincidentally, included Peridot. She still found it laughable that the little pipsqueak hadn't realized it was her yet. She probably didn't remember. How typical. She had become overly critical as a result of her past. She wasn't too fond of people - and was generally not very inclined to befriend anyone. Peridot happened to be included on this list. That wasn't her only reason for lashing out at the smaller girl. She talked over half the time, generally talked to much, and something about the way she carried herself really, really pissed Lapis off. It was impossible for Lapis to really put her finger on whatever the hell it was, really. On the other hand, Peridot was someone who had good intentions behind her little tough facade. Maybe she had been lonely at one point, but that was nothing compared to the suffering Lapis had once endured. Though she browbeat herself for thinking of it, she was probably taking out her insecurities on the small girl, though she tried to convince herself that it wasn't the case.  
Or maybe it was the fact that Peridot was really, really adorable. She might have been trying to snub the girl on purpose to get attention. Was it tough love? The thought of that made her cringe internally. No, that couldn't be it. She didn't harbor romantic feelings for the little blonde, did she? With her beautiful green eyes and button-like nose...  
There was something else, too.  
Though she couldn't quite explain it, Lapis felt inclined to manipulate Peridot, just to see how somebody like her would react. Would Peridot break just like she once had? Though she hadn't really meant to act as she did at the offset, she had begun to see all the different ways she could twist the girl around her finger. And, in some peculiar, twisted way, it made her happy to see that, for once, she wouldn't be the weak one, the one watching out for everyone else's sorry ass at her own expense.  
She had assumed that, because Peridot was small and short and cute and, in her own way, kind, she would be easy to manipulate.  
But Peridot wasn't as gullible as Lapis had originally thought. While the blonde was demure to the eye (guilty of being cute, too), she had a temper of her own and was stubborn. And, above all, Peridot certainly had a brain. The saddest thing was that Peridot clearly had no clue what was going on - the simple idea of these possibilities went right over her head - she managed to avoid stepping into any traps.  
She didn't know what made her want to so badly take advantage of Peridot. Clearly, Peridot wasn't dumb enough to be taken advantage of.  
It drove Lapis Lazuli crazy.  
She had managed to keep those feelings to herself, hiding them underneath a straight face, but it was just a matter of time before she snapped. She was volatile. She would make a slip up, she feared, and she would betray herself.  
While this internal war was being waged in Lapis's head, Peridot was thinking of how to respond to her question while nibbling on her toast. "Well," she started, pulling Lapis out of her stupor, "it would make things easier. Being at each other's throats will just ruin everything. And, besides. I think you're better than you let on, Lazuli," she stated matter-of-factly.  
Before the glowering Lapis Lazuli could respond, Jasper, of all people, slid into the chair beside Peridot.  
A person she had seen the previous night seated herself next to Lapis. From what Peridot had gathered from eavesdropping, her name was Amethyst. "Your Peridot, right? Jasper's told me about you." Something seemed insincere about the look in the girl's eyes. Peridot, in return, gave her an indifferent look, before quirking an eyebrow up at Jasper. "Of course she did."  
"Oo, cold." Amethyst went on to greet Lapis, who responded in her typical suave way. Peridot found herself envious at how Lapis Lazuli was willing to speak to everyone else so openly, when she was for some unbeknownst reason hostile toward her.  
Peridot angrily tapped on Jasper's shoulder, before harshly whispering in her ear. "Jasper, why did you tell her about me? You know I don't like talking to people." She gave her vitiligo-striped friend an accusing scowl. All she got in response was a wide, lopsided smirk.  
She let out a hiss of rage, pummeling Jasper's shoulder with small hands. "Jasper!.."  
Throughout all the years that they had known each other, Peridot had always berated Jasper. Jasper and Peridot had been childhood friends, who had met when they were assigned to a project together in science class. Originally, Peridot had been expecting Jasper to be,.. well, dumb. Jasper was loud and rambunctious, and had known just about everyone at their school. She was widely known; popular. She was muscular and tall, and played several sports had once. Peridot, on the other hand, was taciturn and cold to most everyone she met, not wanting to speak to many people. The two were polar opposites, if looked at from a superficial view. Meeting Jasper had proven to Peridot that stereotypes weren't particularly true. Jasper was no fool; in fact, she did very well academically. While the two friends had grown to be close, they also were in a constant competition to one up each other. Somehow, in the midst of academics, they had managed to maintain a pretty good friendship. Jasper now habitually tried to annoy Peridot, and Peridot would call Jasper a few curses now and then, but they both knew she didn't mean it. In more recent years, Peridot had become a little wary of Jasper; something about a toxic relationship with this girl who had been at their school. A few rumors had even surfaced, claiming that Jasper had become involved with drugs and some sort of crime. Peridot labeled the situation as trash and had continued about her business. After all, this was her best friend she was talking about. Hardworking, gregarious Jasper. "So, Lapis, who are you rooming with?" Jasper decided to ask. With a straight face, she made the flippant reply. "Oh, some loser." The look of annoyance that Peridot gave her was, in her fair opinion, priceless. However, there was a small thing Peridot noticed. Jasper's shoulders had stiffened a little. Lapis's eyes scrunched up a little, and her smile had faltered ever-so-slightly. The ambience of the lunchroom had turned sour, it seemed, and there was something heavy in the air between both Jasper and Lapis, but Peridot had no clue what it could possibly be. Oh well. The morning continued from there. A few other people joined their table - two lovebirds named Ruby and Sapphire, the cultured Garnet, the wiseass Pearl, and the benign Rose. Throughout the duration of breakfast, the blonde had been through a bout of various questions, called 'cute' (to which she responded with a scrunched up nose and blush), and more. Something, however, seemed very off. There was clearly something between Jasper and Lapis. Everyone else who had seated themselves seemed to be there all because of the fact that Jasper invited Amethyst over. It didn't seem right.   
At the same time, the excessive attention had worn her out, and she was more than eager to head back to her dorm to get her books. As the daily announcements rolled in through the loudspeaker, she stepped into her room and face planted onto her bed.  
She let out a muffled screech into her pillow. She then calmly rolled off the bed, gathered her books for English class over her arm, and was about to start over to her class when Lapis Lazuli stepped in. "What class do you have?" she decided to ask. Lapis Lazuli, who didn't even look at her, surprisingly, spoke. "English." Peridot debated on whether she should say something, but instead decided to let Lapis figure it out for herself.  
It was apparent at this point. They shared a class.  
She reached the classroom a few minutes before the bell, able to find a seat in the very front. She was the first student there. More people soon filed in after her, and sooner rather than later, most of the seats were filled, except for one chair at the very back. How typical. One thing that she also noticed was Lapis Lazuli's absence. The teacher was also absent from the classroom, for the time being. Jasper finally stumbled in, seating herself by Peridot. "How's the first day of school going?" her friend joked. "Horribly." The room was filled with raucous laughter and gossip - until the teacher walked in through the door, stationing himself at the front of the classroom with a pointer stick. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to your first day at Beach City Academy!" He was a short jovial man with frizzy black hair. And, surprisingly, something about his positivity was contagious. Soon, the classroom was filled with warmth. In the middle of his inspirational speech to the class about the beginning of the year, Lapis Lazuli, looking grimmer than every, stepped through the door. The entire class turned to face the door, and the teacher, Steven, as he called himself, greeted her. Literally. He introduced himself plainly as Steven. "Sorry for being late. Bathroom," Lapis muttered. As the blue-haired girl looked for a seat, a relieved look set across her face. Lapis seated herself at the back of the classroom.  
From there on, class went smoothly. Steven summarized what was coming up in the next few weeks of English class, and everyone was able to state their names and hobbies to the class, as a little getting-to-know activity. She zoned out at the first mention of anyone. They were irrelevant to her. Instead, she watched what was going on in the classroom. Amethyst seemed to have an endless supply of food on her at all times. She had kept pulling out food in the middle of class. Pearl, who sat beside her, chastised her, and became increasingly angered when Amethyst called her "salty" and "bird-mom" before booping her nose. Rose kept passing notes to someone named Greg, while oblivious to her friend Pearl giving Greg practical death glares in the background. Meanwhile, Jasper quietly mimicked the teacher, which Peridot snidely laughed at. Lapis Lazuli had started to fall asleep in class. Peridot had taken note of this, told Jasper, and Jasper had made sure to announce, "Lapis is falling asleep!" as loudly as possible. Peridot couldn't help but snicker along with the class's roaring laughter as Lapis shot upward. Peridot continued her banter with Jasper, who had gone on to mock a few classmates. It wasn't like anybody would hear them, anyways. The old game they had where they mocked people was some of the most fun someone insecure like her could possibly have. Even after Peridot had hesitantly introduced herself to the class and everyone was leaving. And the rest of the day passed without much action. All the while, she had been quietly making observations, noting certain things about certain classmates. While sports were going on, Peridot returned to the dorm room and grabbed her tape recorder and her laptop. She slunk to a quiet place outside of the dormitory, and began to type away on her laptop. Before she knew it, an hour had passed. That was when she remembered her daily log. She pulled out her tape recorder, quietly surveyed her surroundings, and then clicked the on button. "Log date, seven ten two. The first day of my stay here at Beach City Academy has gone... fairly well. The only issue is that my classmates here continue to baffle me. It's as if some of them serve a purpose, and others..." She paused for a beat, with a bark of laughter. "And others don't." She would have continued on, if not for the sound of footsteps nearby. She froze, ending her daily log, before peering around a corner to see what was going on.  
Two of her classmates, who she had learned were called Sugilite and Malachite, had cornered somebody. From what she could tell, they were bullying this person. She felt disgust. Peridot had harbored an instantaneous dislike toward the two the first time she had seen them, as they seemed overtly pugnacious and unconcerned with education. They were brutes, put simply. And, from what Peridot could tell, they were bullies.  
With an unexplainable burst of courage, she jumped out from the corner. Her thinking had been: if I can create a diversion, maybe they'll leave that person alone. "Hey, you! I won't just stand by and w-watch people get hurt!" She was cowering, but held her ground. Her theory had proved right. She distracted both of them, who turned to her. "How much of that did you see?" they asked. Their faces were turned up into sneers, and Peridot felt her courage slip away. Their victim had scampered away, but she was the new target. Peridot pursed her lips, raising a finger to point at them. "You two are going to be in a heap of trouble, once I-"  
"What are you going to do, nerd?" They began to advance. She raised a finger, about to blabber about telling the teacher, but something told her she wouldn't finish. Peridot nervously backed up, looking for an escape. Her plan to intimidate them by threatening to rat them out had been thrown out the window. She then turned around and booked it. Abandoning her things, she took off toward the dorms, the two on her heels. The hallways, unfortunately, were mostly empty, as the majority of people were at some sort of sport or club. She had nobody to call to. If she was caught, she was fucked. She skittered toward her dorm room, grabbing the doorknob and rattling it viciously. Locked. "They're going to wipe my precious grin off the face of this planet!" the blonde wailed, turning around as her aggressors blocked her other escapes. "Well, well, what do we have here?" Peridot leaned on the door, looking desperately for some other escape. She was practically shaking with fear. Until the door fell open. Lapis Lazuli stood in the doorway, giving Sugilite and Malachite a cold stare. "Go. Away." Peridot quickly stood up, crawling past Lapis and cowering behind her. "Or what?" Malachite sneered. And then, voices in the hall. Some people were returning. Sugilite and Malachite visibly paled. Apparently, they were too afraid to make a public scene. Lapis held their gazes for about a full minute before the two hastily retreated. Lapis slammed the door, before whirling around to face Peridot.  
"You have a _lot_ of explaining to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my writing is really terrible lel


	5. A Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things get a little heated.

Peridot stood there, jaw gaping open. Lapis Lazuli had, in no uncertain terms, saved her ass. And this wasn't just anybody she was talking about.  
Lapis fucking Lazuli. Top-notch arse. The person who had asked her why Peridot even wanted to be her friend. The stone-cold girl who had given her hell on the first day she had moved in.  
Lapis's question took a while to register with her - hoping that Lapis hadn't noticed her obvious ogling, she stood up and brushed off her clothes.  
"W-well, Lazuli," she began, her inner snark kicking in, "I could've dealt with the situation myself." Lapis gave her a doubtful, knowing look, and Peridot felt her self-assured smirk begin to slip off her face. "Those two were bullying a fellow student, and I found it in my best interest to help out."  
"Even though they would've beaten the snot out of you?"  
Peridot held up a finger, mouth open, her mind blanking out. She didn't have a comeback this time.  
Then she remembered her laptop and tape-recorder, still lying on the ground. Lapis Lazuli seemed to have given up on her question and had returned to her bed. Peridot, not wanting to disturb her roommate, quietly slunk toward the door. In all honesty, she was afraid to piss the girl off somehow. Lapis wasn't the nicest person, she had found. As she reached out for the handle, she was stopped by a voice.  
"Peridot?"  
She flinched, visibly shaken, before turning to face her roommate, who was looking at her with a face set in stone.  
"Are you okay?"  
Peridot felt a warm, bubbling feeling surface in her chest. Her roommate, who she'd been trying to befriend, was concerned about her. Lapis Lazuli cared. A wide smile stretched onto her face, and the blonde looked at Lapis with a look of pure adulation. She let out this little giggle-snort, feeling her eyes soften.  
Lapis Lazuli, on the other hand, felt her face suddenly grow very warm. "Umm..." Suddenly, the blue haired girl was particularly interested in the floor. Still smiling, Peridot opened the door and skipped away, happily going to retrieve her things. She left Lapis Lazuli alone to question her sexuality. Peridot managed to grab her laptop and recorder before returning to the dorm room. She had taken a while, however, as she had been mapping out parts of campus in her head. After the run-in with Sugilite and Malachite, she was a little afraid to be caught in a situation like that again. Luckily for Peridot, they had little homework - it was the technical first day of school - and the blonde could only assume the school board had wanted people at the dormitories to adjust. From what Peridot had seen, people in the other rooms had become friends to some degree. Maybe she could get her blue-haired roommate to befriend her. Once she got into the dorm room and shut the door, she duly noted that Lapis wasn't present. "But the chances of befriending Lazuli are slim... It's like mission impossible," she grumbled. Peridot had a habit of unintentionally talking to herself; because Lapis had apparently left the dorm room, she was free to simply pace back and forth while talking to herself. Usually, she recorded her logs as she spoke. It was her personal method of coping with life. "Why is that Lazuli so intent on giving me the cold shoulder?" A pause. "She asked me herself why I want to be her friend and she didn't seem convinced... Why am I getting myself so worked over something as trivial as this?! Moody roommate, big deal. Of course," she continued, tapping her feet on the ground, "maybe I annoy her? No. Impossible. How could anybody be annoyed by me, the great and lovable Peridot?... no, no, scratch that... something I've done must've annoyed her?" She let out a frustrated huff before swinging onto her bed. "But she did... she saved me." She let that little statement sink in, and she felt a little better.  
And then, an idea popped in her head. If Lapis Lazuli thought she was annoying, wouldn't it be best if she showed the girl the good side of herself? There was a warm side to Lapis, as she had seen a little earlier. Maybe she would warm up to Peridot. "But at the same time, wouldn't that also be a bad thing? I just have to know more about her... But how?" The small girl tapped her foot on the ground, pondering over her options. That was when a little idea popped into her head.  
And that's how she found herself, a few minutes later, on Lazuli's side of the room, rifling through the intimidating girl's things. What was the harm of finding out more about her? She had changed beforehand, too, now wearing a small black shirt with the words 'I Solemnly Swear I'm up to no Good' in white lettering. How true that statement was.  
Peridot's harmless research led her to a few findings --- Lapis Lazuli at one point had been a competitive swimmer, and an exceptional one, at that. She had won a notable amount of awards... but she had stopped swimming. What was the reason for that? Peridot had also noticed that the girl had a singular picture of her family, with her father, mother, and her all posing. A few tears were in the top. It was almost as if somebody had tried to rip it up. She gathered up a few of the more interesting bits of things near the foot of Lapis's bed, neatly placing them in the ground. She had found an article tucked away neatly near the bluenette's bed, something on the news about a high school swimmer who'd quit because she'd gotten involved with drugs and bad people and -  
why were Jasper and Lapis Lazuli on a picture in the article? And the universe found that the right time to let the door swing open. Shit.  
Lapis Lazuli stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed, fists balled up slightly. "What the **hell** do you think you're doing?" Peridot's face screwed up into this guilty, nervous smile. "I-um-well-" she began to blubber, the article falling out of her grip as she held up her hands defensively. Lapis Lazuli began to take slow, deliberate steps toward her, shutting the door behind her. Did she mention how downright terrifying she was? Those electrifying blue eyes seemed to glare right at her, and it unnerved her. "You're looking through my stuff. What makes you think..." the girl drawled, still approaching Peridot. The blonde, meanwhile, had scooted backward, realizing she was devoid of space to escape to. With her back to the wall, she looked up at Lapis, wide-eyed and almost... afraid? "... that you can just go through my stuff?" Lapis had now cornered the smaller girl in the corner of the room; she grabbed the neck of Peridot's shirt as she loomed over her, tugging it up. Slight panic was starting to settle in. "Don't mess with me." Lapis's words were cold. Icy. Peridot gulped, but oddly, found her fear becoming anger. Lapis began to lean her face closer to Peridot's, and Peridot was almost hyper-aware of the distance slowly disappearing between them. Peridot's eyes widened as she looked at Lapis's face. Why did she have to be so damn attractive? Inwardly cursing herself for being so tiny in comparison to her roommate, she tried to avert her gaze and calm down. Her heartbeat accelerated wildly, but at the same time, this anger that she couldn't put into words swelled within her. And then, it made sense. Lapis was trying to manipulate her, wasn't she? With a glower on her face, she let out a hiss of annoyance, shoving Lapis backwards. "Don't mess with ME!" she shot back, green eyes narrowed. Her glasses had become crooked, so she deftly readjusted them on the bridge of her nose. Lapis Lazuli stumbled a little before turning to face Peridot again. Lapis even raised her lip, showing her teeth. Yikes. This was turning into a cat fight. Peridot's face was flushed, and she closed her eyes, crinkling up her nose. "Argh... Okay, maybe that was an invasion of privacy, I'll admit."  
"Maybe?!"  
"Fine. It was. But you can't blame me." The two stared at each other in irritation, a brief silence filling the room. Peridot began to pace back and forth, her words punctuated with exaggerated hand gestures. "You can't expect me to be content with being smiled at, and then promptly given the cold shoulder. I only did this because..." Peridot's faced reddened notably. "I want to know you better. I want to be your friend. I just wanted to find a way to please you, and I didn't know what..." She paused, letting out a defeated sigh and giving Lapis a pleading glance. "Do you find me annoying?" Lapis Lazuli stood there in slight silence, a little taken back by Peridot's response. "Yes. Yes I do. And let me ask, Peridot," she started, "why do you think that feigning ignorance solves anything? I don't care if you want to be befriend me. That still doesn't make digging through my things autonomously acceptable." While Lapis spoke, she once again started to walk toward Peridot, and just as before, Peridot found herself backing up. Another reason why she hated being so goddamned short. "What did you see, exactly?" Peridot simply glared daggers back, lips pursed. She didn't respond. Lapis's eyes darted to the article that was now on the ground, and she gave Peridot a glare even colder than before. Surprisingly, she also let out a bark of shrewd laughter. "How pathetic. You go so low as to dig through my things." Sneering, Lapis pinned the smaller girl's shoulders to the wall. 'Where exactly is she going with this?' Peridot found herself thinking with a note of uncertainty. "You really don't know when to quit, do you?" Once again, Lapis leaned in close to Peridot, to the point where their noses were touching. Peridot could feel her warm breath fanning over her face, her words right in her ear. This was oddly intense. Face reddening, she slowly stuttered, "to quit what?" Lapis backed up then, releasing her grip on Peridot and turning around. "To quit bugging me." And then, she began to sashay away. How catty. "And, if you know what's good for you, you'll get your nose out of my business." Lapis didn't look back. Peridot's mind wouldn't unstick itself from Lapis. She was so incredibly attractive. She touched her lip, a little flustered. Before she even knew what doing, Peridot had jumped up and grabbed Lapis's shoulders. She spun her around and yanked on the girl's shoulders, so that the two were facing each other closely again. "But what if I don't want to?" she countered, before closing the distance between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a huge writer's block, plus I went to camp for two weeks, and I finally got inspiration to write again. As always, if anybody has anything they'd like to see in this story, feel free to leave a comment! Thank you guys for the support! Sorry for the short chapter,, wanted to post something at the very least.


	6. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lapis is reminded again of why peridot annoyed her from the very outset.  
> peridot, on the other hand, feels guilt creep up on her as she remembers something she would rather forget.

No way. No _fucking_  way. There was no way that the cute little pipsqueak had just kissed her and she was so, so aggravating and -

but Lapis stayed put, her lips brushing against Peridot's. It was so warm and soft; she felt herself slipping under. Before she knew it, Lapis had slipped her hands around the shorter girl's neck, deepening the kiss. What was she doing? She had lost her composure, she couldn't do this...

Peridot, meanwhile, was sort of screaming internally. Her thoughts were somewhere in that ambiguous gray space between 'what did I just do' and 'Lapis is a good kisser??' Her thoughts were a blur, and as she found her mind fogging over and -

Lapis suddenly recoiled, leaving Peridot to recover from her stupor. The blue-haired girl's brow was furrowed, her face a deep scarlet. "Holy smokes," she murmured hazily. And then she remembered that Lapis pretty much hated her guts. Peridot have her a toothy, apologetic half-smile. And then there was water. Without saying a thing, Lapis slammed the door, throwing the water bottle that she had just dumped on her roommate onto the ground. Peridot stood in the middle of the room, her clothes soaked and water dripping from her. "I deserved that."

 

* * *

 

Peridot had changed her clothes before she pulled open her laptop, checking the time. A quarter 'til seven. That meant there was a little bit of time before dinner. Chances were, the majority of local students had gone home. It was definitely quieter around the dorms.

Lapis Lazuli hadn't returned.

Peridot had tried to shake her mind from that kiss, and regretted her actions. That would cause even more conflict, wouldn't it? Not to mention she'd find it awkward to go about things now. Furthermore, this wasn't love. She didn't know why she had decided to kiss her. 

She had been trying to work on a small document for the past half hour but she couldn't think straight. With a relenting sigh, she shut her laptop, pushing up her glasses as she massaged her temple. She just sat there for a second, thinking about things, before she put on her glasses again. That's when she noticed the news article on the ground again. She hadn't read through all of it, had she? Sliding off her bed, she padded over to the slip of paper. 'That can't possibly be Lazuli and Jasper, can it?' Her eyes scanned over the words on the page, and a sickening guilt began to wash over her.

It all began to come back.

She never thought she'd think about this again.

She'd never given a thought that it was Lapis Lazuli who she'd been involved with.

That was why her roommate was vaguely familiar. Why else would she be?

The worst thing was that she hadn't helped. She had asked for her help. And she  _hadn't._ She felt so horrible. The ardent memory of that kiss was fading fast, replaced with those memories that she had been so sure she had shaken away.

 

 

_It was two years earlier._

_Although Peridot knew that Jasper was a troublesome person, recent events had begun to worry her. Her stocky friend had become volatile emotionally. From rumors that had been going around, her best friend had been getting involved with drugs and gangs, and had caused quite a bit of trouble as well. It wasn't much of a surprise to Peridot, considering that Jasper had always been a little of a pugnacious person. She'd once seen a kid beaten up. As well as these things, she had also apparently gotten a girlfriend, from what she had heard. Whenever she personally asked Jasper about this, she only equivocated, and she had no clue just how bad things had gotten. She personally wasn't too concerned with her friend - Jasper did Jasper, and Peridot did Peridot._

_Until that one day._

_Peridot had been walking back home from school, prepared for another day of being practically ignored. Another afternoon of paying painstakingly close attention to details in her studies, another afternoon of being alone. Her plan for the afternoon had been set off when a tanned arm grabbed onto her own, grabbing her and pulling her into an alleyway. She looked up, looking at the face of a blue-haired teenager who was close to her age. The most notable thing about her had been her striking blue eyes, filled with a sort of worry that sent a pang of fear into her own heart._

_"You're Peridot, right?" Giving the girl a one-over, her expression changed to one of slight disgust. She had no clue who this stranger was, but she slowly nodded, hoping that if she talked to this person, they'd go away and she could get on with her life. "I'm Lapis. I need your help. Please." Peridot now looked at her with narrowed eyes, becoming increasingly aggravated. She wanted to get back home and get on with her life. "And what could I possibly help you with?" Her voice was chiding, as if she were reprimanding a small child._

_"You've got to help me with Jasper. Sh-she's your friend, r-right?" Peridot gave her another miniature death glare. "If she was, what would it mean to you, exactly?" she sarcastically responded. Lapis gave her a panicked look, becoming increasingly more concerned as time went on. "Look. Your... friend, whoever she is, is looking for me. I have nowhere to go. All I know is that Jasper can't find me. It'll be the end of the line for me. And you're the last person I'd consider going to for to get help, but I need it." Peridot opened her mouth to make some witty remark when she heard Jasper's voice nearby. Her friend sounded particularly angry. Lapis was becoming frantic now. "Don't give me away. Please." Peridot turned her nose, and then yelled, "Jasper?" Her friend soon came into view, and a look that even scared her graced her friend's face. The look was directed at Lapis, who visibly flinched and started to shiver slightly. Jasper's face looked oddly neutral, but her eyes said something very unfriendly. It was then that Jasper asked if Peridot could help her with something._

_And because Jasper was her friend, she agreed._

_She distinctly remembered Lapis trying to make a break for it. Jasper had barreled past Peridot, roughly yanking on the girl's wrist. "Flying off so soon?" she had sneered. Jasper's hand clamped down on the other's arm - and no matter how the girl struggled, it was clear that physically, Jasper was more powerful - and she wouldn't let go._

_So soon she followed behind Jasper, who had an iron grip on Lapis's wrist. It was then that the blonde began to make small notes about this stranger, starting with the small bruises that disappeared under the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt. She thought nothing much of it, but it seemed off._

_They reached their destination not too long after. It was a warehouse of some kind, which Peridot had heard many teens visited. Parties and a whole bunch of scandalous things had happened here. Jasper led them through a few rooms, until they reached a grim looking room with a wide glass window and a shabby couch in the corner. The smell was unsettling. Jasper shoved Lapis into the room, slamming the door as she did so. She produced a key from her pocket, neatly locking the room from the outside. She handed the key to Peridot, before doing something that seemed so out of character for her friend. Jasper gave her a glare which made her blood run cold. "Don't let her out of there or you're in trouble. I've got something to do, and I'll be back in about an hour. I need you to ask her what she knows about them. She'll know what you mean." Jasper paused, inhaling a sharp breath before she continued. "And if you let her out, or tell anyone about this? Well... You're dead."_

_Peridot felt numb._

_And so, she did what was asked of her, to save her own throat. She ignored the pleas of this stranger, doing what was asked of Jasper. She managed to get some responses out of the girl, scribbling them onto a small notepad. And when Jasper returned, she handed her friend what she had jotted down. Before she left, she gave the girl a final glance._

_The look that returned hers was filled with unadulterated hatred._

_Peridot tried to not think of that odd situation again. She knew that the stranger attended their school, and was involved with some sort of sport. Her name was actually pretty well known, but talk of her died down after something. The girl left their school, and no word was heard from her again._

 

 

Peridot recalled that fucked up situation for a long time, a feeling of nauseation hitting her full force. A throbbing headache began, and she had to remove her glasses and put them on the bedside table. Massaging the bridge of her nose, she lay down, trying to think of reasons as to how she didn't realize it before.

It all added up.

Lapis's negative reaction to her. The manipulation. That feeling of dejavu that hit her at times.

The thing she didn't understand was why Jasper and Lapis seemed to have gotten along so well before. They had talked as if nothing was wrong, but her discovery had explained the forced positivity behind it all.

A loud bell interrupted her thoughts. With little enthusiasm, she rolled off the bed, sliding her glasses back onto her face and slowly making her way into the dining hall.

This was bad, quite frankly. Very bad. And perhaps Lapis had known she'd discover this. Peridot's roommate was smarter than Peridot had given her credit for. If this was some manipulation tactic meant to guilt trip her, it was definitely working.

Peridot gathered some food for herself and seated herself at a table. As usual, she was alone. At first, anyways. That was when Jasper seated herself beside her, the girl named Garnet sitting down as well. Thickly swallowing, Peridot forced a smile onto her face. She failed miserably. "Good evening, Jasper." Her friend gave her that signature toothy smile of hers, seeming so innocent, and gave a small laugh. "Why so formal?" she teased. Peridot would have never guessed that those rumors would have been true, but that article proved it. Garnet, who had seemed to notice Peridot's discomfort, distracted Jasper and brought up something to talk about. Some of the people from the previous day began to join the table. Pearl, Amethyst... and then there was Lapis. Peridot felt the blood drain from her face; she felt stiff and cold and so goddamned guilty. She took slight note of how subtle the stiffening of Jasper's shoulder was, how slightly Lapis's expression soured. She began to chew on her food, not wanting to focus on anything. The boisterously loud noise of the lunchroom faded to mere white noise, and Peridot seemed to zone out. That was when a voice pulled her back to reality.

"Peridot!"

She jolted upwards, letting out this strangled squeak as most of the table was staring at her. She could feel everyone's eyes boring into her, and she wished that they would all just disappear. "Peridot? Are you alright?" Pearl murmured. Amethyst, who was leaning on a (slightly blushing) Pearl, looked at her with slight worry. Ignoring the fact that her roommate was looking at her with curiosity, she held up her hands, apologetically speaking. "Sorry. I feel sick." The half assed excuse seemed to work, and the attention was off her again.

And when dinner was over, Peridot left as quickly as she could, before everyone was heading back to the dormitories. Peridot felt progressively more cold. It was as ice was coursing through her veins.

As she reached the dorm, she flomped onto her bed, gracefully smashing her face into her glasses. That would leave a small bruise, and she was assured that her glasses would probably be crooked now.

Just peachy.

When the door opened, Peridot very slowly turned her head, a nervous smile gracing her face. Lapis Lazuli stepped through the door, letting it close very slowly. "I suppose you know about it all again? Isn't that right, Peridot?" Her roommate's voice was emotionless, monotone. It made the ordeal more terrifying to Peridot. "I... I'd like to apologize, Lazuli."

"You trapped me. You used me, just like everyone else did." Her expression was ashen, those ocean blue eyes staring at her. "You could've helped me, but no. And you expect me to get along with you, to frolic around the flowers and be buddy buddy with me, huh?" Her hair fell over her face, which was tilted down, so now her eyes weren't visible. A single chortle escaped her tall friend. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize me."

Peridot wasn't sure how to respond at this point. She was browbeating herself internally for not recognizing Lapis. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Lapis stepped away, gathering a pile of things to take to the showers. As she passed her, three words fell from her lips.

 

" _I hate you."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so this really great person left a comment that made me realize some things. they pointed out that lapis was being a jerk (which was true) and that wouldn't make altogether much sense, unless I was going for that. in a sense, I was, although I got a wonderful idea from that one comment. so, to whoever "that one guy" was, thank you dearly. i've been trying to get over a writer's block for a while and now have inspiration to continue this story. it might be a little sketchy because I'm trying to fit it all together.


	7. Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so there's a time skip in this. pretty cheap, right? well, anyways, there'll be character development regarding peridot in this chapter, and a school year will pass.  
> I'm so sorry that all of this is put together so horribly. I'm really trying. If anybody has any ideas on where this should go/any ways to improve the fluidity of the story, feel free to leave your feedback behind. That would be greatly appreciated.

In the weeks following, Peridot had changed rooms. As in Lazuli had asked the principal if she could move rooms. The request was granted.

Peridot was honestly at a complete loss of what to do. She would rather just throw this entire situation under the bus and flee from it all.

And, as cheap as it sounded, that's exactly what she did.

The school year passed without much further action. Peridot wasn't fond of interacting with people, and Jasper was her closest (only) friend. It was when Jasper started to bully people that things went too far.

It had started with the girl's temper blowing over at first. A few cruel words, a halfhearted apology following.

It then escalated.

Jasper became notorious for starting fights and roughing people up. Peridot couldn't possibly say anything - what could she say? - so she simply sat by and watched.

This could be translated to: she took the easy way out.

If Peridot had to be honest with herself, she was indeed afraid of the brutish girl. She was too afraid of what could happen to her. If she spoke up, bad things would happen. It was a wonder that she wasn't beaten up for standing against Malachite and Sugalite, as a case and point.

Eventually, word of Jasper began to get out to the school board. And, when the year came to a close, Jasper was kicked out. Prohibited from returning.

Peridot pleaded with her mother to try and change schools, to find somewhere more suitable for her. She didn't find too much joy in staying around those she didn't like. Her mother had firmly told her to stay put, whether she liked it or not. She was also sent a little money so she could rent a place to stay; too much was going on at home.

It was sort of funny, put in perspective.

Peridot had never really let it settle in that, because her father had hightailed it off to the other side of the country and her mother was always focused on a business of hers, she was attention starved.

It was funny that her mother gave her the time of day then.

Of course, she brushed off the matter and just realized that she would be staying somewhere she didn't want to be.

Whether she liked it or not.

* * *

Somehow, she had had a small run-in with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. She briefly explained her situation, and soon after they offered her somewhere to stay. She felt obligated to say yes, and was shown to a small barn with an outhouse. She had a few negative thoughts about the idea at first, but they showed her tools and scrap metal and other things she could work with in the corner of the barn. They had also tidied the place up.

There was a dated television and sofa in the hayloft. There was a place to store her things. Hell, she even had a bed of her own there!

Though she tried her best not to show it, she was thankful.

Peridot started to change.

Instead of being cold and cynical, she began to warm up to people. Specifically, the people who called themselves the "Crystal Gems". It was amusing, mostly because it was the name of a band the circle of friends owned. Rose Quartz sang, Amethyst played the drums, Garnet played the keytar, Ruby and Sapphire played the guitar and keyboard, and Pearl? Well, Pearl could dance.

She had also learned that their teacher, Steven Quartz Universe, was married to the librarian, Connie Maheswaran, and they had a small kid named Stevonnie. Their little family had moved in near where the Crystal Gems lived.

(And I bet that you, the reader, are wondering: well, gee, why did they live together?)

The answer to that was simple. Garnet, Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, Amethyst, and Rose Quartz all had something in common. Each and every one of them had no other place to go. Because they found solace in staying around one another, their solution was to become roommates. The house in the cliffside that they lived in could be rowdy at times, but it was a happy environment. What more could any of them possibly ask for?

The Crystal Gems stayed in the dorms year-round, as it benefited them more, although they had a house where they could stay during the summer.

Steven and Peridot began to talk more as the summer progressed. Without even recognizing it herself, she had opened up to him about struggles she had faced. Her once taciturn and cold demeanor had begun to slip away. As she found friendship with the Crystal Gems, her live was turned upside down. Every once in a while, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet would stop by the barn and hang around.

And, without realizing it, Peridot began to change.

 

(this is morbidly short, i need to jot down some thoughts of mine, pardon me)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh jeez im a horrible writer, yikes


	8. note

sorry that this isn't an actual chapter --- my family has been super busy moving into a new house and I've been caught up in a lot of things.

anyways, this is a little update to say that i'm alive.

mostly? it's a cry for help of any sort. is there anything anyone would like to see in particular? i have a plan on what's going to happen, but i might just start over again, as i don't like how this story turned out?

anyways, thanks to all of you for dealing with my shit, and if i can gather my motivation to write sometime in the next century, i'll get something coherent put together.

once again, thank you all.


End file.
